When I joined Streetline almost 2 1/2 years ago there were three macro trends that drove my decision. First, was a strong belief that I wanted to find an industry that was relatively untouched by new technology and one where there was a real problem to be solved that could impact the lives of millions – I choose to engage in the smart city / smart parking industry. Second, it was painfully clear that mobile technology and applications were going to be pervasive and become the primary way we engaged with the internet. The final bet was on the “internet of things” – the belief that sensors were getting good enough and cheap enough to fundamentally alter the way we interacted with our physical environment. Over the last 2 1/2 years I have learnt a lot about how to actually make the internet of things a reality – how do we you create a full technology stack from the sensors and the hardware all the way to the consumer and enterprise applications that can actually take advantage of this new data and information. This is not an easy task, but the results I believe will do nothing short of change how we all live and work.

Much has been written about the internet of things recently, but over the last 2 weeks there have been 2 specific announcements that I think will in retrospect be viewed as a tipping point. The first was a report issued by GE titled “The Industrial Internet: Pushing the Boundaries of Minds and Machines” . The first couple of lines in the executive summary says it all “The world is on the threshold of a new era of innovation and change with the rise of the Industrial Internet. It is taking place through the convergence of the global industrial system with the power of advanced computing, analytics, low-cost sensing and new levels of connectivity permitted by the Internet.” GE goes on to describe what in their view are the 3 major periods of innovation in our history : The Industrial Revolution, The Internet Revolution and now the Industrial Internet. GE believe that the Industrial Internet will add $10-15 trillion to global GDP. This is a grand statement by a world class company that can actually influence the evolution of the internet of things.

Of course there are other major companies that see this future and are positioning their companies for success – IBM has for several years driven its “Smarter Planet” strategy that also has at its heart the analytics that use all this device data to drive greater insight. (disclosure again – IBM is a strategic Streetline partner).

So in my mind there is no doubt that the internet of things will have a profound impact on our lives, our cities, our companies and our planet. This is not a future vision thing – this is happening now !

To all the VC’s out there that in the past have been hesitant to fund start-ups that had a hardware component, I would encourage them to revisit this traditional hypothesis – as you can imagine it is tough to have an internet of things “without things” . The value creation opportunity for start-up in this space is immense – but you need to make sure the solution solves a real world problem.

To aspiring entrepreneurs I would encourage you to be bold and to explore the many aspects of daily life where new data from objects connected to the internet can enhance our experience. For companies, the revenue and cost saving implications are massive (the GE report has some great examples) so see how connecting what you build (eg. printers, cars, planes, ovens, thermostats etc.) to the internet can change the service and value proposition of what you provide.

But what else ? There are such a broad set of opportunities to be captured. So again, here is my question for all of you – if you were starting a new company today in the broader realm of the “internet of things” what would you do. As always welcome the feedback and input.

Day 2 at TED ofcourse did not disappoint – how could I even think it would. What did surprise I think all of us (probably with the exception of Chris and the TED team) was the stark contrast between two brilliant talks. These two discussions presented a very different view of our collective future. This was the “how full is the glass session”

First up was Paul Gilding – former CEO of Greenpeace. Paul’s basic premise was that we are already beyond the point where the planet can sustain us and that in order to support the economy over the next few decades we will need 1.5x the earths resources to do so. Essentially his talk was a call to arms stating that a “crises is a terrible thing to waste” (reminded me of Rahm Emanuel comments about the economic downturn).

Paul knows what he is talking about, is a great speaker and his talk had some good facts – in summary it was depressing !

But here comes the ying to Paul’s yang. Next up was Peter Diamandis – founder of the X Prize and self titled space activist. I had known of Peter ofcourse but had never heard him speak – he is a powerful and passionate speaker. Peter view of the future was not only a full glass, but I would say an overflowing glass. He talked of abundance, he talked of all the incredible positive changes that have occurred over the years, mortality, technology, standard of living etc. His basic view was that we tend to focus on the negative because the media focuses on the negative but we have an incredible abundant future that we can shape. To be fair, he did not ignore the problems of the current like global warming, population growth etc. but be just said we will not only survive but thrive in the future.

So by this time I was feeling much better about the world and the future.

These are two very different view of the world and our collective future – I don’t think one is right, or one is wrong, though I personally gravitate towards Peter’s world view – maybe because I have more hope in humanity or maybe because it is easier to feel good about the positive scenario.

It has been a couple of months since my last post – but I think I have a good reason. As many of you know I recently took on the CEO role at a company called Streetline Inc. Going into any new company takes its time and effort and hence the delayed posts. But here I am again – for better or worse !

So lets get to it. My “Right Question”. Can cities talk ? Well first what do I mean by that. I am talking about the exciting world of sensors aka “internet of things”, aka “smart grid”, aka “rfid tags” and the list goes on. Sensor are a normal part of our every day existence. We have sensors in cars, washing machines, phones, planes, elevators, machinery etc. Sensors provide a pretty basic service – they “sense”. What they sense can vary – it can be movement, temperature, magnetic level, pollution, and again the list goes on.

Over the years sensors have become more sophisticated and have had a significant impact on how we work and live. In the 1990’s a movement began called the “Internet of Things”. Started by the Auto ID Center (originally based in MIT) the idea was to create a network of objects that can talk to each other and to the internet. This concept and its offshoots have continued to gain speed. Originally there was a lot of excitement around RFID tags that could project object information and could be tracked through the supply chain, into supermarkets and even into your home. So it is clear that we are now living in a world where objects are talking to each other and to us.

However, over these past years the proliferation of sensor technology has had its ups and downs – technology challenges, adoption issues, some times privacy concerns and many times a lack of focus on creating true economic value for stakeholders. Over the last 3-5 years though there has been a resurgence of sensor based technology popping up in areas where its potential impact is massive.

One area area that has gotten a lot of attention recently is the “Smart Grid”. Essentially utility companies with the help of innovative start ups are starting to deploy sensors at electricity and gas meters, along the grid and even down to your appliances in your kitchen. The primary purpose of this investment is to generate data or information. This information can then be used by consumers, utilities and companies to manage a “smarter grid”. There are some exciting companies in this space – here are just a few you can look at for more information: Silver Spring Networks, eMeter, Tendril etc.

So now lets talk about cities – and specifically “Smart Cities”. Well first question is how does a city become a “smart city”. As usual when in doubt go to Wikipedia (I do it more so that we don’t have to waste time on definitions !)

“Smart cities can be identified (and ranked) along six main axes or dimensions.These axes are: a smart economy; smart mobility; a smart environment; smart people; smart living; and, finally, smart governance. These six axes connect with traditional regional and neoclassical theories of urban growth and development. In particular, the axes are based – respectively – on theories of regional competitiveness, transport and ICT economics, natural resources, human and social capital, quality of life, and participation of citizens in the governance of cities.

A city can be defined as ‘smart’ when investments in human and social capital and traditional (transport) and modern (ICT) communication infrastructure fuel sustainable economic development and a high quality of life, with a wise management of natural resources, through participatory governance”

That is a long and somewhat complicated definition – but does capture the essence of a “smart city”. So here is the rub. For any of the six dimensions we need one vital component – data/information. How do you know if you have smart mobility or a smart environment if you cannot measure it and gather data.

So many of the smart city activities depends on two vital components – new sources of data that inform us and software that collects this data and allows us to make smarter, quicker and more informed decisions.

There is some great information and thought leadership from IBM on this topic. I have found IBM to have the most comprehensive vision and plan around their Smart City initiatives – it leverages the use of sensors (both human and electronic), data and software to bring amazing new solutions to bear on the parts of the world that are growing the fastest and will pose the biggest challenge of our time – our cities.

So in order for a city to be smarter – it has to talk to us – it has to provide us new types of data so that we can better manage it. Let me use Streetline as a great example of a new technology that is helping cities talk to us (yes I know I am promoting my own company – but I know its technology and can talk about it in context).

Not smart parking !

Streetline is the leader in deploying ultra low power mesh sensor networks. The idea is that these mesh networks can deploy sensors that allow a city to provide amazing new sources of data and information. Our first focus area has been around smart parking. Over 3o% of the traffic in a city is caused by people looking for parking – I am sure you have personally experienced this. Streetline has developed a parking sensor that gets installed at every parking spot. Together with meter sensors we now have real time access to both parking payment information and vehicle presence information. This is just the first step – in the future we hope to deploy sensors to monitor traffic, water pressure in fire hydrants, and to keep a real time track of if street lamps are working (when you have 50,000 + street lamps the saving potential is significant). All of these sensors provide real time data that can change the way a city operates. This video by Good illustrates this concept much better than I can.

I will be writing more about this topic in the weeks ahead. We are entering a new phase of the “internet of things” where the technology is getting cheaper and better and the software (both web and mobile) is getting more sophisticated and easy to use. I predict we will see a revolution in smart city technology over the next 5-10 years.

S0 yes I do think cities can talk and they can give us amazing new types of information that will change how we work and live.